SPG Moments : Our Experience at the US Open Suite

In America, Destinations by Tamala Prickett

SPG Moments : Our Experience at the US Open Suite

SPG Moments US Open

For those of you who don’t already know, SPG stands for Starwood Preferred Guest and SPG Moments are once in a life time “experiences” that members can bid or redeem with points.

To be completely honest, I did not know anything about SPG Moments nor was I a Starwood Preferred Guest member. I discovered the US Open SPG Moments experiences while doing an internet search for tickets. I remembered in the back of my brain somewhere that I could transfer points from American Express to Starwood.

Thus, I quickly signed up for a Starwood Preferred Guest account and started to transfer a butt pile of points! In all seriousness, it was truly a butt pile of points. American Express has a 3 to 1 ratio on points transfer to Starwood. If I had Starwood points, it would have only cost me 50,000 points per package which includes two tickets.

It ended up costing me 300,000 American Express points, so yes, we really wanted to experience the US Open in a luxury suite.

So was it worth it? Yes and No. Yes in that I have started to accumulate Starwood Points for the US Open Luxury Suite package next year, and No in that the American Express transfer ratio sucks.

Speaking of American Express, we also purchased a US Open hospitality package through American Express Entertainment Access.

American-Express-Us-Open-Review

It was nice to not have to fight the crowds prior to the match, and sit down for a nice meal.

Amex-US-Open-Hospitality-Package

They even gave each of us a $50.00 gift certificate to Ralph Lauren of which I am now the proud owner of some gorgeous suede boots. No, I did not let the kids keep their $50 bucks.

Do you think I’m crazy?

Amex-US-Open-Experience

The American Express US Open hospitality package was nice, but nowhere near as nice as the SPG Luxury Suite Package. American Express offers a US Open suite package but it costs a fortune and you cannot purchase them with points. The American Express US Open Luxury Suite packages for the quarterfinals were in the neighborhood of $2,000 a package, compared to 50,000 Starwood points.

The Starwood US Open suite itself was very nice, and the attendants were friendly and personable.

starwood-us-open-suite

The food and drink offerings in the suite were suitable, but I must admit that its one area that Starwood could improve on. The American Express hospitality package had much better and more substantial food and beverage offerings. I also overheard others in the Starwood Suite mention that the food was much better in previous years.

Spg-Moments-US-Open-Suite

We were late, as usual, so we had the last pick on the seats outside to watch the match. Starwood says that seats cannot be saved and the attendants will ask the guests to rotate, but they don’t. Honestly, I would have been embarrassed if they had. In reality, all the seats are good except for the ones in the very back. Those might have been fine for anyone over the height of 5’2″, but I’m short and my kids are still growing! We sat on the steps for the most part.

The Cilic-Tsonga match went over the time were were allotted to stay in the suite. Thus, the Starwood attendants gave us a court side pass down which ended up being a golden ticket!

starwood-moments-us-open

The view was so fantastic that I am considering the court side packages over the suite next year!

US-Open-With-Kids

Apparently, if you are within the first 3-4 rows, the security will allow you to request an autograph from the players. They block everyone else from coming down. The day could have not ended much better!

spg-moments-us-open-review

 

Overall, we had an awesome time with SPG Moments at the US Open and we hope to return next year. Don’t forget to check out our video and other New York City Posts!

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Tamala PrickettSPG Moments : Our Experience at the US Open Suite